1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the diagnosis of an ovarian or endometrial tumor or for a prognosis, characterized in that the L1 level is determined in a patient sample, the presence of L1 being an indication of the presence of an ovarian or endometrial tumor or a possible predisposition for such a tumor. This detection is made preferably via a monoclonal anti L1 antibody or a fragment thereof. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical preparations for use in the therapy of an ovarian or endometrial tumor. Furthermore, the present invention concerns a method of treating ovarian or endometrial tumors.
2. Description of Related Art
The diagnosis of specific tumors is based inter alia on the detection of specific tumor antigens (TAG) which may originate from the cytoplasm, the cell surface and the nucleus. In this connection, a distinction is made between tissue, individual and species-specific TAGs which may also be present physiologically as differentiation antigens on cells and between TAGs which are referred to as tumor-specific neoantigens and TAGs as intermediate products of the oncogenesis of a cell type which disappear again with further differentiation. They are detectable as tumor markers by immunochemical methods, above all intracellular antigens (AG) or antigens forming (increasingly) as surface antigens on tumor cells being of interest. Of diagnostic significance are e.g. the oncofetal AG (“OFA”), e.g. the carcinoembryonal AG (in the case of colon carcinoma), the SCC AG (“squamous cell carcinoma antigen”), α1 fetoprotein (in the case of primary liver cell carcinoma), isoferritin and fetal sulfoglycoprotein (in the case of gastric cancer and colon carcinoma), α2−H ferroprotein (in the case of a malignant tumor occurring in early childhood), γ− fetoprotein (in the case of sarcomas, leukemias, breast cancers), furthermore “Tennessee AG” (tennagen), “tissue polypeptide AG” (TPA), oncofetal membrane AG (OFMA), tumor-specific transplantation AG (TSTA), membrane-associated tumor AG (MATA) as well as minor antigens such as “A-like” AG, “Forssman” AG, WGL, etc. Another tumor marker used diagnostically so far is CA125 (highly glycosylated cellular mucin which occurs in tumor cells to a greater degree and is released) which marker has been used so far for the diagnosis of human ovarian cancer or endometrial carcinoma, e.g. via the determination of the serum levels or—after operations—via the immunohistological staining of tissue samples with anti CA125 antibodies. However, the diagnosis based on the detection of CA125 has a number of serious drawbacks. For example, increased serum levels of CA125 can also occur in a number of benignant diseases, e.g. in the case of an endometrial inflammation, pelvic inflammation, cirrhosis or also during the menstruation or a pregnancy. Increased CA125 levels are also found in the case of non-gynecologic malignant tumors such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic carcinoma or lung cancer. Thus, this can lead to false-positive diagnoses. CA125 is also found in the case of immunostaining of colon-adenocarcinomas, gastric cancer, lung cancer and atypical hyperplasias of the endometrium. For the early detection of ovarian or endometrial carcinoma the measurement of CA125—in combination with ultrasound—does not yield any satisfactory reliable results either. Thus, with respect to both susceptibility and specificity CA125 is not suited for an early detection of ovarian or endometrial cancer but—if at all—rather for subsequent stages or relapses, however, the above described problems regarding the specificity existing, i.e. the diagnostically hardly acceptable occurrence of false-positive findings.